Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Many years ago, I entered an antique store and found the coolest oddity for sale - a framed taxidermied bat from the Victorian era. The price seemed so high at the time, $150. I stared at it and walked around the store a couple times. I kept coming back to stand in front of it. A tiny petrified bat. I wanted it. Badly. But I lost the argument going on in my head and I left the store. A week or so later, I decided that the bat was one of those items where the regret was greater than the price. I returned to the store and found this in the bat's place:

A stupid spider. I asked the store owner what happened to the Victorian bat and he informed me that someone had bought it a few days prior, then he offered me the stupid spider.

Life lesson learned: If you see something and KNOW you're going to regret the purchase and you're not going to be able to find it anywhere else, get it. I've seen some overpriced framed bats since then, but none from the Victorian era and none that were just a simple tiny bat in an elegant black wooden frame.

I feel your pain. It has happened so often to me. The worst though is when you intend to buy it and miss out. I once saw a cool 4 seat row of airline passenger sets at a local junk store. They were only 50 bucks! I had to have them for my studio. The place only took cash and I had none on me. I ran to the closest ATM. By the time I got back, someone was loading them into the back of their pick up. AAARGH!